South African researchers say they have developed a low-cost and sustainable housing alternative to the flimsy corrugated iron shacks found in the country’s growing settlements. Developed by an interdisciplinary at Stellenbosch University’s TsamaHUB center, the so-called iShack is insulated with inexpensive, natural materials such as mud and (more…)

Just over a month ago, the first SolarKiosk opened near Lake Langano, in Ethiopia. The project was conceived by Germany-based Graft Architects as part of a bigger move to bring clean power to people in regions of the world who live off the grid and rely on burning biomass for cooking and heating. As a consequence, their health suffers due to fumes they breathe in. (more…)

The municipality of eThekwini in Durban, South Africa, has greenlighted a new project of solar powered traffic lights. Funded by the state-owned power utility Eskom and implemented by ZRW Mechanika and Saint Gobain Solar, the project uses CIS solar modules to power lights at four intersections. (more…)

A recent report on African Jet said that British investors have proposed the creation of a solar power plant in Rjim Maatoug, Governorate of Kebili. The plant would have a capacity of 2,000 megawatts to be connected directly to the European power network.

The plan was presented during a recent meeting with (more…)

Africa, typically a dumping ground for electronic waste from other nations, could produce more e-waste than the European Union by 2017, experts say.

Across Africa, a combination of population growth and increased access to mobile phones and other technology will produce a surge in e-waste over the (more…)

Solar power works best of course where the sun is brightest. However, another major factor is the capital cost for a solar installation. If your are poor, you cannot get started easily. One of the big opportunities positive climate action has presented the developing world is the chance to leapfrog a generation of energy technology straight into clean, green generation (more…)

Low-income Africans and South Asians will have access to solar power thanks to an initiative called Business Call to Action (Bcta), supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) that encourages private sector efforts to develop inclusive business models that can have both commercial success and a positive impact in development. (more…)

Here’s an amazing project dealing with solar energy: UK-based, German industrial designer Markus Kayser has created two devices to tap the power of the sun in harsh climates of the Egyptian desert.

The first is called Sun Cutter, described as a light cutter that uses a large ball lens to focus the sun’s (more…)

A new analysis calculates that vegetation in the world’s tropical regions stores about 229 billion tons of carbon, which is about 21 percent more carbon than previously believed.

Using remote sensing satellite data — including cloud-penetrating LiDAR — and field observations (more…)

First, the bad news.

Although Africa has vast fossil and renewable energy sources, only twenty percent of its population has direct access to electricity and in some rural areas, four out of five people are completely without power. According to the UN, over 600 million Africans currently do not have access to electric power. (more…)